Sonic the Hedgehog: Emerald Power
by L. T. Dangerous
Summary: Dr. Robotnik plans to rebuild the Death Egg. But how hard will it be without Grimer to help him? This is a fic that follows on from Sonic The Comic (UK publication) 184 and uses some of the characters from STC. Chapter 5 is now up!
1. Prologue and Chapter 1: A day in the lif...

Disclaimer: This story is based on Sonic The Comic (UK) and partly the "SegaSonic" (games) continuities of Sonic. All characters copyright Sega Limited or Egmont Publishing. All Rights Reserved.  
  
Emerald Power  
  
A FanFic by Luke "Buzz Bomber" Fletcher  
  
1 Prologue  
  
Sonic and Tails had saved the day again! Everyone on the Planet Mobius couldn't be happier that their two saviours had triumphed over Doctor Ivo Robotnik once more. Well, everyone except for Robotnik himself, of course.  
  
The fat Doctor sat in his revolving chair (which he'd only bought because he liked to spin round in it. Well, when I say bought I mean- of course- stole). He was looking through some Badnik designs that he'd come up with. He sighed to himself. He couldn't hide it anymore.  
  
Without his faithful Grimer, his Badnik designs were simply slightly upgraded versions of older models. And it was a long time since Sonic had trouble smashing a Crabmeat Badnik.  
  
Robotnik flipped through the next few designs and diagrams. He could no longer think of anything to do. He had to rebuild it. He had to recreate his deadliest machine ever, but make it stronger. He had to rebuild.  
  
.The Death Egg.  
  
Unfortunately- for Robotnik anyway- he would need to steal the Chaos Emeralds in order to power such a craft. However, this time, he would need them all, not just the Master Emerald. If he could get all the Chaos Emeralds, he would have a totally indestructible Death Egg.  
  
There was only one thing to do. And that was to begin right away. First, though he would have to build new Trooper Badniks. Luckily, he still had a huge pot of molten metal and so that would be easy.  
  
He set to work.  
  
2 Chapter 1: A day in the life of a cool, blue hedgehog  
  
Not for the first time- and probably not the last, either- Sonic and Tails were up against a small regiment of Troopers. This time, however they had to run away, not something Sonic favoured doing. He liked running perfectly well. It was the whole running away thing that he didn't like.  
  
Tails dared a glance over his shoulder and didn't like what he saw, "Sonic, I don't like what I see," he said. Sonic listened to his friend and replied with, "What's that, then?"  
  
"Well," Tails answered, "will a fleet of EggRobo do you?" Sonic's eyes widened. "A fleet of EggRobo and a regiment of Troopers?" Sonic smiled, "No problem"  
  
With the style and grace of a ballerina (though not quite as pink), Sonic flipped backwards- without looking, as usual- and landed right on top of an EggRobo. Sonic grinned widely, "Hmm. EggRobos. You're the ones with the guns, right?" Before his enemy could answer, Sonic swiftly snatched the EggRobo pistol right from its owner's gloved hand. "Yep," Sonic smiled to himself, "you're the ones with guns, alright"  
  
Sonic being Sonic took this opportunity to move. He wasn't dumb. He knew that all the other EggRobos and the Troopers would be aiming right at him. Badniks didn't care whether they were killed as long as Sonic could go, too. They weren't programmed to.  
  
After what happened with the Metallix and Commander Brutus, Robotnik had decided that all Badniks should have knowledge of a self-destruct chip deleted from their files. That way, if they turned traitor, then they were exploded.  
  
However, Sonic had inadvertently leapt right into the centre of the EggRobos and Troopers. Sonic knew, though that Badniks were dumb. As all the Troopers and EggRobos took aim, Sonic prepared himself.  
  
Then suddenly, they shot.  
  
All at once they blasted away at their target. Destroying it. Blowing it to pieces. Their target was no more- it wouldn't pose a threat to them again.  
  
Though quite how a cement floor can pose a threat to anyone is unknown. Sonic had leapt up milliseconds before being blasted. Now he was using a very sneaky tactic. Drawing enemy fire to other enemies he was stood near to. If he wasn't Spin Attacking the robots, then they were being shot anyway.  
  
A few minutes later, Sonic stood victorious on top of a pile of scrap metal. He cheered himself on, "Once again, the hero of Mobius saves the Metropolis Zone and the crowd go wild! Raaaaaah!!!"  
  
Tails watched on. He knew just how smug Sonic could be. This was a prime example of this. He also knew that Sonic wouldn't shut up about it on the way home to the Emerald Hill Base. Modest, Sonic wasn't.  
  
Tails flew over to where Sonic was standing, "So, now are you happy?" he enquired. Sonic grinned broadly from ear to ear, "Never been better, my two tailed chum!"  
  
Yes, thought Tails, it'll take a lot to shut him up, now.  
  
  
  
Hours later, back at the Emerald Hill Base, Sonic was recalling the story to the gang for the fifth time that day. Truthfully, though they sat in supposed amazement, they'd lost interest the second time round.  
  
For Tails on the other hand, it was the first time round- just after Sonic had said that there must have been "at least 500 Troopers there and 300 EggRobo". Tails wasn't a great counter of crowds, but there were no more than 30 of each kind of robot there.  
  
"So," Sonic carried on, "there I was, heroically standing my ground when these 800 Badniks appeared." Shorty the Squirrel- also known as Shortfuse the Cybernik when he was wearing his new armour made by Tekno the Canary as he still wanted to help Mobius- was bored rigid. He wasn't great at remembering things, but he was sure the last time Sonic had told the story, Tails was actually in some way involved.  
  
Amy, as much as she cared for Sonic, wanted to punch his lights out, right now.  
  
And as for Tekno, she would much rather have been working on a new invention to help Mobius, rather than listen to this drivel.  
  
Even the Kintobor Computer was becoming tired of this little tale. And the Kintobor Computer wasn't even programmed to become bored.  
  
Honestly speaking, Kintobor believed that his programming might have become a little broken over recent months. He reasoned it was when Sonic spilt Diet Koke down his main keyboard and then tried to wash it out with soapy water.  
  
Kintobor had noticed since then that he had been bored, tired and even slightly in love. With Amy's laptop, of course.  
  
The Kintobor Computer had been programmed by Doctor Kintobor himself. Porker Lewis had later reconditioned him and so some important files were accidentally lost- for example which parameters to stick to.  
  
Thankfully, though, there was no chance of him being hacked again, like the time Grimer made him into the ultimate nightmare Badnik.  
  
As Sonic reached the part where the EggRobo's gun was snatched, he realised no one was listening. In fact, they weren't listening because they were all asleep. Sonic decided to follow suit.  
  
  
  
Early on the next morning Sonic and the gang were rudely awakened by Tails. Well, Tails' scream at any rate, "Yiiiiiiikes!" yelled the little fox. Sonic ran immediately to the source of the shrill call and found Tails was being dragged off outside. As it transpired, a Grabber Badnik with castor wheels attached had Tails in its horrible grasp.  
  
Sonic grimaced horribly. One of the reasons Robotnik had made Grabber a spider Badnik was that Sonic had terrible arachnophobia. Sonic knew that he had to be careful, now. If scared, a Grabber Badnik would explode, which was bad news if it had a hostage.  
  
"Hey, you!" Sonic risked. The Grabber turned on its squeaky wheels. Clearly, Robotnik hadn't put much thought into a Grabber with wheels. "What?" the robot enquired. Sonic had already leapt up into a Super Sonic Spin Attack. "That was a bad move" said the Grabber, turning red. Oh, flip! What've I done now?, thought Sonic.  
  
Tails- now really scared- shouted, "Sonic! Smash it, quickly before it can blow up!" Sonic, however, was way ahead of Tails and had slammed into the Grabber with a Spin Dash Attack, blasting the eight legged terror to oblivion and releasing a Flicky.  
  
"That was close," said Sonic, who was glad Tails was safe.  
  
"Way too close," said Tails, who was all too happy to be free.  
  
"Tweet," said the Flicky, who had no idea what was going on.  
  
Sonic figured out that Tails was going to have been taken in so that Robotnik could use him and want the Chaos Emeralds as ransom. How did he figure it out? Well, a little bird told him. Or, rather, it'd told Tails who could understand Tweet.  
  
At any rate, Sonic now had to find out why Robotnik would want the emeralds. True, he'd always wanted them before, but why right now? Sonic sat in deep thought.  
  
Eventually, he realised he was completely stumped, "I'm completely stumped," he said, "Tails, the only way we're gonna find out what Robotnik needs the Emeralds for is to go and attack his base"  
  
"You're right," Tails concurred, "let's go!"  
  
He dashed off before noticing Sonic hadn't moved. He walked slowly back towards Sonic who asked him, "Where are you going?"  
  
"To Robotnik's base" Tails replied  
  
"Tails? Where IS Robotnik's base?" asked Sonic with a slightly impatient air.  
  
"Um, well.I don't know" Tails was forced to say  
  
"No, I didn't think you did. Come on, maybe we'll find some clues in the Aquatic Ruin Zone"  
  
"Why the Aquatic Ruins?"  
  
"I just have a feeling, that's all. I mean- Robotnik's not used that place in ages." a pause, "Ever. Well, once. So I guess, since he's been around the other Zones recently, he'd try this out"  
  
"Oh" Tails answered  
  
"Let's go, then!" and with that, Sonic sped off in the direction of the Aquatic Ruin Zone with Tails only about half a metre behind him.  
  
Sonic knew Robotnik wasn't in the Aquatic Ruins. He also had a plan as to why he'd want Robotnik there. 


	2. Like an EggRobo on Legs

Chapter 2: Like an EggRobo on legs  
  
Night-time. Sonic had begun his long journey to the Aquatic Ruin Zone already.  
  
Doctor Robotnik sat in his chair, deep in thought. He knew that somehow Sonic had destroyed the Grabber with wheels, or the Fetcher as he called it. He knew it because the signal from the Fetcher's radar had disappeared. And that either meant Sonic had smashed it or it had self- destructed. And neither of those methods would bring Tails to Robotnik.  
  
Robotnik entered a code into his PC that would send a small fleet of Whisp Badniks to the Aquatic Ruin Zone. Sonic hadn't bargained on the fact that there was a component of the Fetcher he didn't destroy- a tiny microphone that relayed everything back to Robotnik perfectly.  
  
Robotnik flicked open a panel. Inside was a diagram of his face and an arrow underneath it. Below was a button, which Robotnik pushed. Sonic may have deactivated Robotnik's arrow shooting machines in the Aquatic Ruins, but they'd just been reactivated. Should that horrible hedgehog or any of his outlaw friends pass through his marvellous system, an arrow would be fired at them at top speed!  
  
Robotnik decided to go for a walk around his EggBase, as he had called it. Even Robotnik was beginning to get disturbed by his strange obsession with eggs, caused by the malfunctioning Retro Orbital Chaos Compressor all those years ago.  
  
He walked over to a lift door and pressed the CALL button. Within seconds the lift had arrived. He stepped in and pressed 7- FACTORY FLOOR to see how his robot workers were getting on at building new Troopers.  
  
What he saw when he stepped out of the lift on floor seven did not amuse him at all. Robots with sparks flying were running around haywire destroying everything.  
  
"WHAT ON MOBIUS IS GOING ON, HERE?" bellowed the mad doctor.  
  
Suddenly a voice cut in through the tanoy system, "Hey, lardy- hope you like the way we hacked your computer! We think we did it to a 'T'!"  
  
Robotnik recognised the voice as that of Tekno the Canary. He had once been Tekno's employer, until she had turned against him. She was sentenced to death by him, but was freed by Shortfuse the Cybernik.  
  
Ever since then, she had been a constant thorn in Robotnik's fat side. She knew many of his command codes- codes that could not be altered under fear of Badnik malfunction. She knew the location of many of his buildings. She had been one of the most useful allies to Sonic over the years. Robotnik knew this. Robotnik disliked this.  
  
The voice continued, "Just in case you're too dumb to figure out, you've been hacked by Porker Lewis and Tekno!" There followed laughter from Tekno and Porker. Robotnik was seething.  
  
It would cost him time to get his factory back under control again. Time he needed to get the emeralds. So, while he set to work, he got his most useful Badnik to get them for him.  
  
He sent for EggRobo. Many years ago, Knuckles believed he had destroyed EggRobo. Wrong. That was an EggRobo in his place. This is the EggRobo. EggRobo knew how to pick missions, alright.  
  
Robotnik's greatest Badnik likeness this side of Commander Brutus. This EggRobo also respected his master, however. But even better still, this EggRobo could think up plans that were good. This helped Robotnik greatly.  
  
So, Robotnik sent EggRobo to the Floating Island, where Porker Lewis and Knuckles were currently asleep.  
  
Whilst he watched EggRobo leave, he set to work on the factory again. All the robots were shut down and then had their circuits fiddled with in some way and then were rebooted. Then they all had to be reprogrammed as they had had their programming erased after being hacked.  
  
Simply put, Robotnik was not best chuffed.  
  
  
  
About half an hour later, EggRobo landed on the Floating Island. He guided his Egg-O-Matic into the Emerald Chamber and activated the vacuum that was attached to it. However, as he had broken through the island's forcefield, he had alerted the robot guardian of the chamber, who had relayed a signal to Porker's alarm clock.  
  
However, it used a warning tone, meaning that at the end of this chain of events, Porker had woken Knuckles and now both were in the chamber with EggRobo.  
  
"Ah, Knuckles. We meet again" EggRobo smirked  
  
"Cut the corny dialogue, EggRobo. I thought I destroyed you"  
  
"No, that was an EggRobo in my place, I am the EggRobo. I know how to.Look have you been reading any of this so far?"  
  
"Huh? Reading?"  
  
"No, of course not. You're to stupid to understand"  
  
"Understand what, rustbucket?"  
  
"That doesn't matter," EggRobo finally decided- thank goodness, otherwise it would have made this a very confusing story, "what matters is that I steal these emeralds. And now that my vacuum is at full power, I do believe I'll do just that!"  
  
With that, EggRobo sucked up the green Chaos Emerald into his vacuum bag.  
  
"I won't let you do it!" Knuckles yelled as he ran an jumped at the bag before tearing a huge hole in it with his namesakes.  
  
"Argh! No! I'm going to escape with this emerald, whether you like it or not!" EggRobo grabbed the emerald and held it with him in the Egg-O- Matic's cockpit. He decided then was a wise time to withdraw and shot off down a Zoom Tube.  
  
"No!" Knuckles yelled, "I have to stop him! Robot, where is he?"  
  
The robot guardian replied with, "According to all sensors, EggRobo is no longer on the Floating Island. However, it is quite possible to keep the island in the sky with the current amount of emerald power"  
  
"Thank goodness for that," Knuckles said, relieved, "Porker- fetch your laptop. I need you to send a message to Amy to get Sonic"  
  
  
  
"The Aquatic Ruins? Why?"  
  
Knuckles couldn't believe his ears. Why had Amy told him that Sonic was going to the Aquatic Ruins. It made no sense- it wasn't possible. He was tired. He reasoned that was the cause of his frustration.  
  
"I'm not sure, he got one of the Emerald Hill Folk to relay a message back to us simply saying that was where he was going"  
  
"I can't believe this. The green Chaos Emerald has just been stolen and the person who can help the most is absolutely nowhere near where I need him to be. I'm just going to have to go to the Aquatic Ruins myself" with that, Knuckles closed the link to the Emerald Hill Base.  
  
"Porker, I'm going to have to go to the Aquatic Ruins. Take care of the place whilst I'm gone and just call for the guardian robots if you need any help"  
  
Porker looked worried. Long ago, he had had a nervous breakdown. He had so much pressure on him he decided to leave Sonic's side to go and live with Knuckles on the Floating Island, a place of tranquility at least.  
  
However, he had known there were drawbacks to this. Tranquility, maybe occasionally, but the Chaos Emeralds were a very big target to people like Robotnik. It seemed that trouble followed Porker Lewis everywhere he went.  
  
"Don't worry, Porker," Knuckles tried to calm the pig, "the robot guardians are near indestructable, remember?"  
  
Yes, thought Porker, but I'm not. 


	3. The Rampage Begins

Chapter 3: The Rampage Begins  
  
Back at Robotnik's base, EggRobo reported. Robotnik greeted his Badnik likeness, "Ah, EggRobo- did your mission go as well as could be planned?"  
  
EggRobo replied in Robotnik's voice- the voice all EggRobo Badniks spoke with, "Well, take a look for yourself" He opened his chest plate to reveal the green Emerald.  
  
Robotnik gazed at the emerald, almost as if he were in love with it, "Egg- cellent! Take it to the lab- Badnik Q23D4 will see to it"  
  
EggRobo hovered over to the laboratory. He opened the door to reveal Badnik Q23D4, a Splats Badnik, hard at work on one experiment or another. EggRobo held the emerald in his left hand and shook hands with Q23D4 with his right. Hand, that is. What did you think I meant?  
  
"Fantastic work, EggRobo- the master couldn't have done it better himself," Q23D4 congratulated him  
  
"Thanks Q23D4. Though I find that hard to believe!" they shared a laugh, neither daring to say Of course it's true, Robotnik would have made a right pig's ear of it.  
  
"EggRobo, I'd like you to place the emerald into the green part of the stand over there. When we have all the Emeralds, enough power will have been generated to power the Death Egg"  
  
"No problem" EggRobo floated over to the long stand and placed the emerald into the green area as instructed.  
  
The green part now glowed brightly and EggRobo noticed that it matched perfectly the self same glow from the emerald.  
  
"Ah, excellent. Now EggRobo, take care on any missions, okay?"  
  
"Righto, Q23D4"  
  
Back in the Badnik workshop of the base,EggRobo took marvel in watching a new kind of Badnik being made- the Terrayn. The idea was that it had wings, a motorbike wheel like Rhinobot or Moto Bug and aquatic gear. Basically, this Badnik could go anywhere.  
  
And that made EggRobo worried. He knew Badniks had a self-destruct chip -in fact he was the only one of them to know this. But he didn't like the idea of having to square off against this one.  
  
The Terrayn opened its eyes, "Terrayn Badnik-0001 fully functional"  
  
He looked at EggRobo to scan him, "Scanning. EggRobo Badnik-0001. My equal in rank, thuswise," this enraged EggRobo- Terrayn had just been created and here he was saying he was of the same rank as EggRobo, which was wrong, him only being of the same CPU Identification code, "what is more, it doesn't seem to like me, do you?"  
  
EggRobo wanted to yell No, I flipping well do not, you horible thing but instead said, "Of course I do- what on Mobius gave you that impression?"  
  
"Well," the Terrayn said back, "you seem to feel uneasy at the fact that I can easily outdo anything you can"  
  
"Not so," EggRobo retorted. "And at any rate, Robotnik is working on a near indestructable Orbinaut right now that'll outdo us both"  
  
"Just checking." there were various whirrs and clicks from Terrayn, "Nope. The Orbinaut project isn't underway currently. Perhaps you were trying to change the subject?"  
  
EggRobo rubbed his fingers along his gun angrily, but restrained himself somehow. Just you wait you despicable machine, one day I'll get you for all this he thought.  
  
Before EggRobo could reply to Terrayn, Robotnik's voice crackled through his personal radio link, "EggRobo- report for duty. I have another mission for you. And bring the new Badnik"  
  
EggRobo didn't believe the outcome of this would be great for him.  
  
Ten minutes later, EggRobo realised that this had indeed not been great for him. He had to go to the Aquatic Ruin Zone to attack Sonic and Tails and bring along Terrayn to test him out.  
  
Now, he was on his way to his mission objective. Just as another idea of his own, he radioed a fleet of Whisps to attack the Floating Island and retrieve as many emeralds as possble. He made sure Terrayn didn't find this out.  
  
Meanwhile, Sonic and Tails were about half way through the Aquatic Ruin Zone,  
  
"Sonic, can't we stop for a bit? My feet hurt"  
  
Sonic sighed, "Tails, you've got to keep up with me!"  
  
Tails replied, frustrated, "We've been running for a day and a half without a rest!"  
  
"Alright. We are here now, after all"  
  
Sonic and Tails sat down. Tails was exhausted, "I'm exhausted," he said, "I'm glad we've finally stopped. I couldn't have stayed on my feet one moment longer"  
  
"Looks like you may have to, buddy," said Sonic, "look up there, an EggRobo and some freaky new Badnik!"  
  
Using its hearing abilities, Terrayn heard the message and shouted back down, "I am not freaky, spikey! I am your doom!"  
  
EggRobo couldn't help but titter at Sonic's comment. Suddenly, he felt a lot better. EggRobo paused for thought a moment I've sent all those Whisp Badniks for another Chaos Emerald.why can't I just shoot Terrayn and escape? I know he's not been equpped with facilities to communicate with Robotnik like I have. EggRobo then decided to turn off his communicator and said, very unconvincingly, "Oh dear, I have fired my gun at Terrayn by accident"  
  
Terrayn, however, dodged, "You think I'm that dumb? Robotnik built me to be fast too, you know! Now, I'll attack you!"  
  
Terrayn however hadn't figured out one small thing. Nor, apparently, had Robotnik. EggRobo had. Terrayn had no weapons. EggRobo took careful aim and fired. Terrayn was smashed to pieces.  
  
EggRobo secretly rejoiced. He turned back on his communicator and flew off. So did Tails, smacking him on the back of the head. EggRobo wasn't beaten, but he was hurt.  
  
  
  
EggRobo waited, back at the EggBase. Eventually, a Whisp contacted him. Apparently, they had attacked and stolen the orange emerald. Porker hadn't put up much of a fight, but apparantly, some Whisps had been destroyed by the guardian robots- a small price to pay for the orange emerald.  
  
A little later, a Whisp captain presented the emerald to EggRobo. EggRobo instantly went to speak to Q23D4. Q23D4 had apparently found an amazing breakthrough.  
  
"EggRobo- you won't believe what I've discovered!"  
  
"What is it? Something about the Chaos Emeralds?"  
  
"Yes. I've discovered that they have the ability.to mutate subjects!"  
  
"What?!"  
  
"It's quite true. Have a look at this"  
  
Q23D4 led EggRobo through into the lab, where EggRobo placed the orange emerald into the orange area on the stand. This part also glowed orange. EggRobo was noticing a pattern.  
  
"So, Q23D4- what will happen when we have all the emeralds, exactly?"  
  
"Well either the Death Egg will become an indestructable killing machine that will never run out of power or else the emeralds will explode destroying every in this base. Though the chance of that happening is quite marginal."  
  
"Um.I'm gonna go and find out if Robotnik has anything to say about the destruction of Terrayn."  
  
"Alright, EggRobo. Hope to see you soon!"  
  
Unbeknownst to EggRobo and, indeed, anyone else, Q23D4 was planning something. Something very nasty indeed. And not even Sonic the Hedgehog would be able to stop him. And with the knowledge that the emeralds could mutate people and their minds so much that they may be placed under anyone's will, he couldn't resist it.  
  
The radiation had already mutated EggRobo's memory chip, albeit temporarily, so that EggRobo couldn't even remember he'd been told the emeralds could do so.  
  
Q23D4 laughed, "If this was a story," he cackled, "the writer would have one heck of a job explaining what just happened!" 


	4. Green, But Not Yellow

Chapter 4: Green, but not yellow  
  
(by the way, guys- if you read this fic when I first did it, I cannot apologise enough for leaving you waiting about two and a half years for a new chapter)  
  
If you've just joined us, sit tight as it's time for a quick recap. And, hey, if you've been reading since the start, you may want to read this as well because, oh boy, have things ever gotten confusing? But here's the deal, Boomers:  
  
Former dictator of Mobius and thoroughly nasty person Dr Ivo Robotnik has decided that, following the amazing mishap that was the Chaos beast it's about time he gave world domination another shot. The Doctor had seemingly been going insane after being defeated in an incredible battle by Sonic the Hedgehog, his heroic arch-nemesis. But Robotnik had since managed to snap out of his insanity.  
  
Indeed, Ivo had realised something was amiss and decided to run some tests on himself. It turned out that he really never was going insane (well, no more so than usual, at any rate). In reality, he had suffered from a psychological problem that occurred when his God-like powers, bestowed on him by the Plax (an ancient race of plastic-esque aliens who mistook Robotnik for their God) were removed, combined with the stress of his constant failure to beat Sonic.  
  
Sonic the Hedgehog and Miles Prower (better known to his friends as Tails, and winner of World's Corniest Name Award 2002) have heard of Robotnik's evil plan to get all seven emeralds and the Master Emerald to power up an indestructible Death Egg and are in the Aquatic Ruins Zone. They're in the Zone under the pretence of looking for Robotnik's secret base, though Sonic knows for fact Robotnik is not there, he's not letting on to his little buddy as he has a plan and he wants Robotnik in the Zone.  
  
Meanwhile, there is anarchy under Robotnik's own bulbous red nose and he doesn't even realise it. EggRobo, leader of Robotnik's Badnik minions, has no wish for his position to be usurped by snobbish robot Terrayn (the Badnik that can go everywhere, yet has no weapons for some insane reason) and, as a result, shot it to bits. Add to this Robotnik's temporary head scientist, a Splats Badnik named only Q23D4, almost as if his creator simply smacked the keyboard to get some random serial code, and his wish to usurp some power himself. Q23D4 has a plan to take the Chaos Emeralds and unlock their power, wielding them himself for his own gain- nobody will be able to stop him.  
  
But, hey, lengthy exposition over, let's get back to the story, shall we?  
  
"And, today on the show, we're going to be teaching you how to cook an omelette with a side order of cheese and some surprisingly low calorie ch-- "  
  
"Bleh" A bony finger stuck up and pressed a button on the remote. The channel flipped over.  
  
"PILEDRIVER! CLOTHESLINE! JACKHAMMER! OTHER PIECES OF KIT!!!"  
  
"Gah, not wrestling..." Once again the button was pressed and, once again, the channel flipped over.  
  
"It's time to vote off...The Weakest Mobian!"  
  
"Oh, that's enough!"  
  
Grimer stood up and turned the TV off. "Why do you tease me, God?"  
  
Grimer would hardly have called himself a religious man but, frankly, he'd probably get more response talking to God right now than anyone else, given that he was alone. He sighed. "Seriously. What's the deal? All my life, I wanted to be a scientist. Then I get offered a job by Dr Robotnik. I had no idea who he was at the time, but I took the job because it offered good pay. So then it turns out he's the most evil man in the history of Mobius. Great. I'm still under contract. So, I run with things a little, and I grow close to the guy. I'm the only one he ever truly trusted. Dare I say, I even felt...compassion for him. I felt sorry for the guy because, evil or not, he had dreams and they kept evading him. Time runs by and my contract expires. But I choose not to leave. I stay with this evil man and...I become a little evil myself."  
  
Grimer pondered on things for a moment before continuing his soliloquy, "But evil though I may have been, I wasn't irrational. And Ivo was going mad. I had no choice but to leave, even though I freed the Chaos beast and nearly killed us all. Praise be that Sonic the Hedgehog came along and..." He caught himself praising his long time foe, before giving in and continuing, "...and saved us all again. And, now, here I stand, bored out of my skull, jobless, talking to a God I don't believe in, in a run-down place I call home, rueing the fact I ever accepted the Doctor's offer".  
  
Suddenly, Grimer was hit with an idea. And it wasn't an idea that Dr Ivo Robotnik would have appreciated, either. But Sonic the Hedgehog would have loved it.  
  
Speaking of Sonic the Hedgehog, the Aquatic Ruins Zone was about to be made a whole lot more dangerous for him. Robotnik had already re-activated all of the Zones traps that Sonic had previously de-activated and sent a fleet of Whisp Badniks to attack. Sonic, of course, sat completely unaware of all this, with a plan that would, he hoped attract Robotnik to the Zone.  
  
"Sonic," Tails said, "not to sound whiny or anything, but I'm bored. Where's Robotnik's base?"  
  
Sonic hadn't told Tails that Robotnik had no base in the Zone- something Sonic knew for sure; the Zone was of absolutely no use to the Doctor- but he knew that if he'd said to Tails "I'm luring out Robotnik for a one-on- one fight to get some answers" then the fox would have only picked fault and tried to discourage him. Sonic knew, as well, that he would have ignored Tails' pleas for some sanity- sanity was simply something that got in the way of the mission objective, Sonic felt- and he didn't like the idea of upsetting Tails.  
  
But now, as Sonic realised that Tails was waiting on a reply, he knew that as things went on, he'd have a tougher time of convincing his furry friend that there was a hidden base to be found. Sonic reflected on Tails for a moment. For more than ten years Tails had followed Sonic through some of the worst situations of his life. Sonic was always the joker of the pack when it came to the Freedom Fighters, the group of anti-Robotnik outlaws who fought for justice. But Tails had always somehow managed to stick by Sonic even in some of the sillier moments when the fox really should have been at home in bed. Tails idolised Sonic, there was no doubt about that.  
  
But looking at it from another angle, Sonic realised that he was more than Tails' hero and best friend. He was his mentor. The Freedom Fighters had been dealt a tragic blow when the Chaos beast caused the death of Johnny Lightfoot, one of Sonic's braver accomplices. The cause of Johnny's death was unknown. Some feel that he took a massive punch from the beast a little too hard. Others believe that Johnny died as a result of a heart attack, brought on from the Chaos beast's uncanny ability to strike fear into its opponents- fear which increased to an incredible degree as you got closer to it.  
  
But in any eventuality, Johnny's death had underlined one key fact for Sonic. All life is vulnerable. And there would come a time when even he, the great Sonic the Hedgehog, would die and pass on to the afterlife. And, at that point someone needed to step up and lead the fight against insane madmen like Robotnik. Sonic was training Tails to be that someone. But that was, hopefully, going to be a long way off and Sonic had plenty of fight left in him yet. He gazed up at his buddy and smiled, "Relax, Tails," he said, "We'll find Robotnik yet!" "I'm more worried that he'll find us first, to be truthful, Sonic"  
  
"Well..." and Sonic trailed off. There was a reasonably long pause before Tails decided to respond.  
  
"Well...?"  
  
"The thing is, Tails...he might just do that"  
  
"What?!" Sonic saw Tails' reaction. He was a combination of stunned and upset. Sonic realised he should probably have said something a bit more helpful to the situation.  
  
"Um, well...what I mean is- you know what these evil dictators are like, right?" Sonic forced a chuckle in order that he may try to prevent Tails from thinking his best friend was a full on nutter. Sonic would never admit to anyone, but he gained great pleasure from ensuring he could keep his friends happy- perhaps because on Mobius there were so few chances of happiness.  
  
Back at the Emerald Hill Base, Amy Rose sat, occasionally prodding away at a key on the Kintobor computer.  
  
"Amy"  
  
She didn't seem to hear anything.  
  
Kinotobor cleared his throat, as best a computer generated personality can "Amy"  
  
"Huh? Oh, sorry, Kintobor"  
  
"Not a problem, Amy. It's just I feel that, given Sonic and Tails are both off on another of their trademark adventures, you might wish to monitor their activities, using the cameras Tekno and Porker Lewis recently installed around the Aquatic Ruin Zone"  
  
"Hmm?"  
  
"Oh, yes. Didn't I tell you? They've managed to install lots of cameras, across about 30 Zones just in the last few days, all hooked up to my mainframe so that you can watch any goings on"  
  
Amy took things the wrong way now. For years, she had been referred to as "Sonic's girlfriend". This had always annoyed Sonic, leading to temper tantrums on several occasions. But now it was starting to wear thin on Amy, too. She was a girl who could get any man she wanted, and just because she had a crush on him many years ago, that didn't have to be Sonic! She had matured since then. She didn't have to go with Sonic if she didn't choose. Did she? Either way, she mistook Kintobor's suggestion as if he had said "Why not check up on how your boyfriend is doing, you lonely individual?"  
  
"Naw, that's OK, Kintobor," she responded, "I'm sure Sonic can handle himself. Especially with Tails there to help him out"  
  
"Oh....that's....it's just that..." Kintobor's voice grew quieter so that Amy didn't hear his next comment, "I'd really rather you didn't play Solitaire on me"  
  
At that moment, a green head with hair flopping over one side of its face appeared from the stairwell. It was Amy's best friend, Tekno the Canary. Tekno was an incredible asset to the Freedom Fighters and she also meant that Amy wasn't the sole female of the crew. The two had visited many different worlds, dimensions and time periods through the use of the Ring of Eternity, now used as a gateway between Zones, and in all of the scenarios they faced, the girls had proven themselves just as tough as the boys and had always won out over evil.  
  
"Amy," Tekno half spoke, half squealed, "you are NOT going to believe this one"  
  
Before Amy could enquire what Tekno was on about, the green Canary dashed back downstairs. Amy followed.  
  
When she reached the bottom of the stairs, Amy was greeted by one doozy of an unusual sight. There stood Grimer Wormtongue, wearing some ridiculous oufit, including a T-shirt with Sonic's image and the words "Sonic is Cool!" emblazoned upon it. He was grinning from ear to ear.  
  
Amy was stunned. She literally could not think of what to say. After roughly twenty-two-and-a-half seconds of nothing but stunned silence on Amy's behalf, she finally found some words to use, "What the FLIP do you want?!"  
  
"I was expecting something like that" Grimer smiled  
  
"Amy," Tekno piped in, "Grimer has something he wants to say"  
  
Amy looked cautious, but prepared herself for the worst, "Go on..."  
  
"I want to join you."  
  
A long silence. Suddenly Amy burst out laughing, shortly thereafter, she was joined by Tekno who managed to say, between laughs, "Yeah! I thought it was hilarious, too!" Grimer looked seriously miffed. "I'm SERIOUS!"  
  
"We know!" Amy said, wiping away a tear of laughter, "That's what makes it so funny!" "GAH! I KNEW you'd be childish like this!!" Grimer exclaimed.  
  
Tekno and Amy suddenly stopped laughing. Amy eventually found herself, very calmly saying, "No offence, Grimer....but are you sure you'd fit in with us?"  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"Well, you're....it's...well, I won't say 'coward', but--"  
  
"Oh, what a surprise! I knew that was coming!" The girls were quite shocked by this reaction and awaited Grimer to speak on, "For so long now I've been characterised as some slimy little so-and-so who would do anything to save his own hide and forget about the rest! Well, to heck with that! Doesn't anyone realise? Don't they see? I'm more than that! So much more! A year or so ago, there was NOTHING I wouldn't have done for Dr Robotnik! NOTHING!!! I would have put my own feelings aside- and frequently did- just for what he wanted. And, at the end, we gained nothing, but we picked the pieces up and started again. So don't tell me I'm not a team player, because I am!"  
  
"Well...what can you offer us?"  
  
"What can I offer you? Let me make you a deal you cannot possibly turn down"  
  
"I don't believe this. This is ridiculous"  
  
Knuckles had been running around the Aquatic Ruins Zone for the best part of half an hour and had to, finally, admit that he was very lost indeed.  
  
"I simply DO NOT believe this! Whilst I'm here, my island could have been attacked and pillaged, but because Sonic has to play adventurer and refuse to take any kind of contact device with him, I'm the one who has to go looking" Knuckles thought about what he'd just said and instantly felt bad.  
  
He and Sonic had always had something of a rivalry, probably a fact which was inflamed a degree or two by his own personal gullibility and the fact he so readily walked straight into Robotnik's ploy all those years ago, only realising in the nick of time that he'd picked the wrong side. But, rivalry or no rivalry, Knuckles knew that Sonic was an honourable hero and someone who he was glad to say he was a friend of.  
  
The fact is, Knuckles friends didn't extend any further outside those Sonic considered friends, with the exception of Ebony and Pyjamas, two cats who had mystical powers. Sonic only knew Ebony loosely, but Knuckles had met them once before and struck things off quite well. Indeed, Knuckles had lived a very secluded life and it was only recently he had been able to open up to other people. The fact the first person he made contact with tricked him also meant that, to begin with at least, he had trouble trusting anyone, particularly Sonic whose lifestyle was so radically different to his own- whilst Knuckles was laid-back and wary, Sonic had a take no prisoners, all-out attitude..  
  
But he was warming to others now. Perhaps something that contributed to his secluded nature was the fact he spent years alone on the Floating Island. He has no idea of his true past. Knuckles- and a creep named Doctor Zachary- are, apparently, the last two remnants of the echidna race on Mobius. But they would be forgiven for mistakenly believing they were abandoned by the rest of their race.  
  
Truth be told, Knuckles and Zachary were sent from thousands of years in the past. Many centuries ago, Knuckles was the head of the echidna army, as part of a tribe led by Pachaccamac, the last of the great echidna leaders. The echidna had engaged in a series of fierce battles with the great Drakon Empire, a group of half-fish-half-cyborg creatures who, at one point, ruled over Mobius. The Floating Island, home of the echidnae, was the only place the Drakon Empire had not yet gained control of on the planet- and the Drakon Empire do not appreciate having a job half completed.  
  
In a final, brutal war, the Drakon Empire murdered countless echidnae, with the sole plan of gaining control of the Master Emerald. Though they succeeded, they soon realised that the emerald was of little use to them in the long run, and left Mobius entirely not long after, never showing any remorse for killing so many. During the course of the final battle Tikal, daughter of Pachaccamac, used her mysterious abilities of controlling the flow of the time stream to send Knuckles to the future, at the cost of any recollection of his past, aside from his name and a knowledge that he must protect the Master Emerald at all costs.  
  
Unfortunately, Tikal could not plan for the fact Doctor Zachary- himself a thoroughly dislikeable individual- would accidentally be transported alongside Knuckles. Perhaps, luckily, though, Zachary also had no recollection of his past, but he managed to escape Knuckles until many years later when he would confront him over ownership of the island, under the pretence of being the first of a returning race of echidnae.  
  
Zachary being sent to the present- our present- with Knuckles was perhaps in a way fortunate, as Knuckles was able to find many robot guardians as well as plenty of old scrolls about secrets of the island thanks to Zachary's interference. Unwittingly, Zachary had allowed Knuckles to strengthen his island and, aside from one or two glitches, there had since been no problems with safety on the island.  
  
But a fat lot of good that would do Knuckles, now, caught up in the undergrowth of the Aquatic Ruins Zone. As he tried to brush a branch out of his way, he inadvertently got himself tangled up in a knotted mess of vines.  
  
The echidna sighed angrily "I don't believe this..."  
  
After struggling for a few moments, Knuckles managed to break himself free and continued onwards. Not long after, he caught a glimpse- at long last- of his targets. Sonic and Tails were sitting around, thinking about how best to make their next move. It was at this point Knuckles noticed a flash of light out of the corner of his eyes. It was only a small flash and many wouldn't have noticed it. But Knuckles' awareness was high as ever.  
  
It didn't take a genius to realise that the shine was coming from an arrow that was taking aim at Sonic- one of the Zone's old defenses, set up by Robotnik to try and put a stop to Sonic. Without warning, the arrow shot off in the direction of Sonic.  
  
Sonic, meanwhile was getting pretty sick of waiting for Robotnik. Surely he'd have heard something by now, right? Just then, Sonic heard a whooshing noise, and looked up to see an arrow roughly half a centimetre from his face. Attached to the arrow was a gloved hand with strong, pointed hinges on the top of it. Attached to the hand was the individual who'd just saved Sonic's bacon.  
  
"Lucky I was around, right, Sonic?" Knuckles grinned.  
  
Sonic disliked being seen in a bad light and did not want to allow Knuckles to gain an upper hand due to their competitive nature. He simply shrugged and smiled, "As if, Red. I'm so fast, that arrow was moving in slow motion"  
  
"Yeah, and if my guess is correct, you'd not have been doing very much moving at all right now!"  
  
Sonic laughed a little under his breath, "Thanks, Knuckles. What are you doing here?"  
  
"The Floating Island stands being attacked at any minute for Chaos Emeralds. We've already lost at least one as we speak"  
  
"What?!"  
  
"I don't know why Robotnik wants all the emeralds at this moment, but I do know for fact that it isn't good"  
  
Sonic instantly seemed a lot more tense "If Robotnik already has an emerald then there's no time to lose. We have to go to the Floating Island straight away. He's got to come back for the rest if he wants them"  
  
"Right" Tails concurred, deciding it was time for him to speak up, mainly because he'd not said a word for the last 3 minutes. "I'm sick of waiting and, if truth be told, Knuckles, I don't think Sonic knows that Robotnik would have no use for this Zone. In fact, if I didn't know better, I'd just imagine that Sonic was simply luring Robotnik out in order to get some an--" Tails trailed off and paused for a moment or two, "...oh".  
  
Suddenly, though, there was a loud buzzing sound. Sonic's ears pricked up and so did Tails'. The blue hero turned around, "Any of you guys hear th--"  
  
Sonic didn't need to finish his sentence, and neither Tails nor Knuckles needed to answer it, because all three could see, plain as day, roughly 120 Whisp Badniks zipping towards them at top speed. Instantly all three mammals prepared themselves for battle, Tails flying up to smash a few of the killer robots straight in the face, freeing a few small creatures as he did so.  
  
Sonic and Knuckles looked at each other. "You know what this means, don't you?" Sonic asked  
  
"What?" Knuckles responded  
  
"That it's time for you to have a lie-down as I take care of business, as usual!"  
  
"And miss this party? You must be kidding!" The two long-time fighting partners grinned and, as Badniks came close, each one either Spin Attacked or punched the vile machinations to tiny pieces, releasing the animals held captive within- animals that are used to provide Badniks with a sick "organic battery" as Robotnik calls them.  
  
A Whisp zoomed towards the back of Knuckles' head, only to be smashed by a Spin Attack from Sonic, "That's thanks for earlier!" the hedgehog quipped, only just avoiding being smacked by another Whisp, which was destroyed by Knuckles before it could cause any harm.  
  
"Well, I don't know what that was thanks for, then!" Knuckles smiled  
  
The two were getting into quite a heated battle, even if it was a little one sided. At one point, though, they both got overpowered and the Whisps were preparing to finish them both off. Luckily, Tails sprang into action at the last moment and together the trio managed to eliminate the problem.  
  
"Whew...nice fight!" Sonic commented  
  
"Nah, just a workout for me. I barely broke sweat" said Knuckles, wiping his brow when the others weren't looking  
  
"You guys do know that this means Robotnik knows we're coming for him, right?" Tails added, "I mean, when was the last time you saw any Badniks?"  
  
"Tails makes a good point, Sonic," Knuckles said, thoughtfully, "I think we'd better get back to the Floating Island right away- I need to protect the emeralds"  
  
"Not right away. We're making a stop-off first at a certain secret location...I have a feeling we're going to need what we'll find there" 


	5. Short on Fuse, Big on Laser Guns

Chapter 5: Short on Fuse, Big on Laser Guns

"This undercover stuff's a whole lot easier when you don't have a body made out of metal!"

Shorty the Squirrel definitely saw the benefits in being free of his Cybernik suit. True, Tekno had made him a new one since his original was destroyed, but there was a key difference between this suit and the old one: Shorty only needed to stay inside it when he wanted to do so.

As part of a cruel and sadistic experiment by Robotnik many years ago, Shorty had been kidnapped along with many of his friends from the Emerald Hill Zone. However, unlike his friends whom Robotnik imprisoned in robots such as Moto Bugs, Shorty was encased in a menacing "Cybernik" suit- the ultimate Badnik. The Cybernik was granted armour made from an alloy that was the hardest substance on the entire planet, as well as jet boots and wrist-mounted lasers. He would have been Robotnik's general for the Badnik army, had it not been for a twist of fate.

Just before he was encased in the suit, Shorty had scrabbled to get free and, in the process, destroyed an all important piece of hardware, the hardware that would have given him Robotnik's brainwashing program. At first playing along with the situation, Shorty saw his moment to escape and took it but, at the same time, was forced to allow Robotnik to realise the gravity of the situation.

Refusing to go along with Robotnik's wishes, Shorty managed to defeat the evil Doctor in a battle and decided to fight for not only the freedom of planet Mobius, but also the general freedom of its people. If Shorty- or Shortfuse the Cybernik, as he renamed himself- had any say in the matter, innocent civilians would not be forced against their will to become terrifying machinations, literally, of Robotnik.

The irony of the situation was that Robotnik had finally designed a Badnik good enough to defeat Sonic, but Shortfuse would instead side against Robotnik. Robotnik had built Shortfuse too well and he was perhaps the most unbeatable creation he had ever devised. In moments of confusion and misunderstanding, or when Robotnik had at one point gained temporary control of the cybernetically-enhanced squirrel's mind, Shortfuse had battled both Knuckles and Sonic to an absolute stand-still- and in neither case a definitive victor was crowned.

Many of the Freedom Fighters often feared that if Robotnik could gain permanent control of Shortfuse, there would be absolutely no stopping him whatsoever. Shortfuse need never rest as long as his system has enough solar power to keep going. But the main problem was one that manifested itself even when Robotnik was not in control: Shorty didn't pick the name Shortfuse for nothing; his temper was ludicrously volatile even as an ordinary squirrel and his temper has flared up at moments when it was least necessary. Previously a full-time member of the Freedom Fighters, Shortfuse quit the gang after he realised his temper would only land him in hot water.

Whilst he still kept in regular contact with the group and enjoyed working with them on a semi-regular basis, Shortfuse saw himself as a lone worker and preferred working alone, keeping contact mainly with Tekno who had helped him many times before.

Recently, she had redesigned his suit. It looked exactly the same as the old one, but it had greater abilities. Not only could Shortfuse now use his tail as hugely heavy club, but he could also withstand heat to 500 degrees and breath underwater for 3 consecutive hours, due to an air supply that constantly refilled whilst the suit was powered on above ground.

Now, however, Shorty was not using his suit. He was on an undercover mission in the Metropolis Zone, attempting to find a criminal he had been on the hunt for for weeks and, needing to remain hush-hush until he could be certain what he was doing, had hidden his suit down a back alley in a bin. Another nice feature Tekno had installed was that the suit had a homing device connected to a wrist band she had given Shorty- by pressing a button on the band, the suit was there in minutes, sometimes less.

The criminal Shorty was searching for, Percival Q. Rat, was, apparently, an unlikely villain, but he'd been causing no end of distress for Shorty. According to police documentation and accounts that Shortfuse had "persuaded" out of Rat's accomplices nobody had ever actually seen him, only communicated with him via a computer link. Weirder still, he had no birth certificate registered; so that could only mean he was using an alias.

Nevertheless, Shorty had followed directions given to him by some random hood he'd had to scare senseless as Shortfuse. The directions would, apparently, lead him straight to Rat's hideout. Rat had been trafficking drugs, mainly, which was deplorable enough but he had also allegedly been the mastermind behind a series of heists in the Metropolis Zone, leading to a cost in the area of 300 grand. Shortfuse wasn't about to stand for that.

He'd followed the directions to a tee, and was led to a somewhat shabby looking warehouse.

"This must be the place" Shorty pondered to himself. He pressed the button on his wrist band and waited for his suit to join him.

"Let me get this straight..." Amy Rose was shocked at what she'd just heard, "You are prepared to give us all the override codes for any Badniks you helped design, plus entry codes for Robotnik's old bases in the hopes that we may salvage some electronic gold from the proverbial wreckage...and you're also willing to help Tekno and Porker Lewis with anything they require in terms of robotics and electronics?"

"That is absolutely correct," Grimer replied

"Well...I...I guess I can't turn you down. Welcome to the Freedom Fighters" Amy shook Grimer's hand.

"I never thought I'd see the day," Kintobor said to himself, watching via CCTV cameras installed in the base, "Amy Rose and Grimer Wormtongue shaking hands- working for the same side!"

Momentarily, Tekno brought Amy to one side, "Amy, I sure hope Grimer is being sincere. He's convinced me he's no coward, but I do know for a fact that he's a lying weasel of a man"

"Tekno, how could he be anything but sincere? I was there when the Chaos beast nearly destroyed the entire planet; Grimer left Robotnik's side and he meant it"

The two looked around at Grimer who smiled and waved at them.

"On the other hand," Amy said, worried, "Sonic may not see things the same way. We'll have to let him down gently when he finds this one out"

Back in the Metropolis Zone, Shorty's suit had rocketed its way to him, zooming through countless bemused crowds along the way. One quick change later and he was ready to infiltrate Rat's hideout.

Shortfuse the Cybernik made his way over to the warehouse entrance, somewhat warily. He couldn't risk wandering into a trap. And if his foe was as troublesome as Shortfuse reckoned him to be, he could well have been wandering into a trap anyway.

Shortfuse checked the door. Locked. There was no way anyone of average strength could open the door. "Well," commented the tin-plated hero, "there's no way anyone of average strength could open this door". It was no problem for a super-strength empowered Cybernik, however, "It's no problem for a Cybernik, empowered with super-strength, however!" quipped Shortfuse, leaving all and sundry to wonder who exactly is telling this tale.

Wrenching the door open with all his might (and Shortfuse was quite considerably mighty) Shortfuse decided on two things. First, the inside of the warehouse was very dark indeed. Second, warehouses are an incredible cliché when it comes to bad guy hideouts and should be stopped immediately.

Warily, Shortfuse made his way into the blackness within the warehouse. Suddenly, there was a rush of movement behind him and it became quite clear that somebody was standing behind him. Turning, it became even more clear that somebody was there when Shortfuse received an enormous punch in the face that sent him hurtling across the room.

"What the HECK is going on?!" Shortfuse found himself yelling, almost losing that "super-hero cool" aspect he'd worked years perfecting.

"Hey, Shortfuse...didja miss me?" A familiar voice. Shortfuse suddenly realised he was in grave danger.

"No...it can't be...It's impossible, you--"

"Oh, I'm afraid it's quite possible, Shortfuse," said the voice. A light flicked on and revealed his identity to our dazed heroic Cybernik, "And I'm sooo sorry I had to lie to you to make you come here! Percival Q. Rat's a fake name, I'm afraid. But, you've probably guessed that by now..."

"OK, let's roll!" Amy Rose yelled.

The alarm had been raised, Porker Lewis had been forced to alert Amy and Tekno to the trouble he was facing on the Floating Island. A second emerald, the orange one, had been stolen. If things kept up like this, it wouldn't be long before the whole island plummeted from the sky. For a third time.

And then, of course, Porker had said, there would be the whole tedious business of traipsing around the planet Mobius, hunting down Robotnik, no doubt having a huge battle with him, before defeating him once more and taking the emeralds back to the Floating Island, whereby they would be replaced and the island would fly back into the sky soon afterwards. Porker hated having to do that series of events- particularly since he'd only just sat through them with the Chaos beast issue- but he apparently didn't mind giving away the plot...hey, don't go away, other fun stuff will happen!

"Amy, one question" Grimer had to chip in.

"What?"

"How do we get to the Floating Island?"

"Well, there are one of two ways. First of all, we can take our lovely little flying machine, created by Tekno, based off a design in one of Sonic's comic books. We've only used it once, to be honest, and if we don't keep it up we may have it taken from us...we couldn't put it down as a justifiable tax expense"

"What's the other way?"

"The hyper spring!"

"The what?!"

"Oh, it's something Kintobor designed to get Sonic to the island in seconds. It wasn't too safe...I think that's pretty much why we got the flying machine"

"Not too safe?"

"Yeah, there was the...um...incident"

"Incident?!"

"Yeah, the...um...incident"

Tekno leaned in to the conversation, "Oh, yeah. That was nasty. The...um...incident, I mean"

"And it took so long to clean up," Amy added

"FLYING MACHINE!" Grimer yelled

"OK, I think we have selected our method of arrival at our destination" Amy decided

"You...this isn't real..."

"Oh, it's quite real, Shortfuse...You're not the only one who can strike a deal to get a new suit built, you know. Dr Robotnik is really quite a pleasant employer. If only you'd had the sense to stay on the team!"

"You're...you're twisted"

"I'm vermin, aren't I?" said Vermin the Cybernik, before letting out a terrible evil laugh.

Shortfuse was sure that if he could see under Vermin's helmet, he'd see a sneering, smirking visage. And why not, in fairness? Vermin was one of few individuals who was actually on a par with Shortfuse.

Also a Cybernik, the key difference between Shortfuse and Vermin was that Vermin didn't undergo failed brainwashing, mostly because he already loved Robotnik. Vermin also had one extra ability Shortfuse didn't- his tail had a point on the end which not only could he plug into electrical outlets to gain power, but he had also been known to jab Shortfuse with it once and delete important Cybernik system files.

"I've been waiting so long for this fight, Shortfuse. A rematch to decide once and for all who the better Cybernik is..."

"What, beating you before wasn't proof enough for you?"

"Before you had your little friends to help you out. It was never a one-on-one confrontation. What's the matter, Shortfuse? Scared that I'll beat you too badly? Or are you more worried I'll trap you within your suit again?!"

Shortfuse remembered all too well what Vermin was talking about. He had been freed from his suit years before, able to remove his armour at will, but Vermin had managed to escape from the facility he was being detained in and delete the release mechanism file. Shortfuse had remained trapped within the suit until years later when he completely overloaded the system in an attempt to save his friends from Robotnik, who had developed God-like powers. Robotnik had hooked himself to a machine pumping himself full of pure power. Shortfuse had attempted to destroy the machine but the strain on his system was so great that his original suit had been destroyed.

Now in a new suit, Shortfuse realised how deadly the situation was- if Vermin trapped him inside his suit again, there may never come another opportunity for freedom. Shortfuse had to win this fight and, if possible, destroy Vermin's suit. There was just no way he could stand living in that suit for the rest of his life.

Vermin leapt with incredible velocity at Shortfuse, pointed tail first. Shortfuse reacted quickly as ever and dodged. Vermin laughed, "Hah, still the same old Cybernik, eh, Shortfuse? Reactions and everything. How I HATE YOU!" Vermin's rage seemed to fuel his power- he spun round and shot out a shock wave from his tail that caught Shortfuse totally off-guard.

In tremendous pain, Shortfuse slumped to the floor. He knew that if he didn't fight back soon, and fight back properly he would be trapped within his suit very soon or, worse, dead.

"And now to kill a hero!" Vermin crowed. His tail stabbed at Shortfuse but, in the instant split-second before he could do any damage to the metallic hero, Shortfuse blasted out a violent pair of energy beams from his wrist-mounted lasers.

Vermin got shot back a considerable distance, knocking over some boxes in the old warehouse. Shortfuse picked Vermin up by the neck and commented, "Squirrel á la death isn't on the menu today, scum". Shortfuse thought for a brief moment. Squirrel á la death? What kind of useless comeback was that? What was he thinking?

Hurling Vermin back against the wall, Shortfuse activated his jet boots and sped at the evil rat. Vermin, unbeknownst to Shortfuse, had planned this whole thing perfectly. "Just a little closer, hero..." Vermin smiled to himself.

And then it hit Shortfuse. He'd flown, full-speed into what can only be referred to as a Cyber-Cage. It can probably only be referred to as a Cyber-Cage because that's precisely what it was. Cyber-Cages worked on the same principle as holo-whips (which some of Robotnik's Troopers had previously used) in that they could imprison basically any life form, yet were not actually tangible things in that they were, in fact, controlled by a computer. It is impossible to pick up a Cyber-Cage, you can only control it via a panel.

Fortunately for Vermin, then- yet most unfortunately for Shortfuse- he happened to have the control panel with him. But that's not all he had.

Vermin got to his feet, "Hey, hero, I've got a surprise for you. The good doctor had a few setbacks building new Badniks but- guess what- he still managed to rustle up some Troopers for me!" Out of the shadows came about twenty heavily-armed Trooper Badniks. But that wasn't the only figure who emerged from the darkness. No, somebody had been watching Shortfuse's attempt at heroism.

Vermin cackled then said, "And here's another surprise for you, Shorty boy!"

"Well, well, what do we have here?" the figure enquired, "It looks like the Cybernik traitor. I think it's time to finish what we started almost a decade ago..."


End file.
